Virtual & In-Person Retreats
Or HaLev offers retreats throughout the year - from one day to seven days. No matter the length, retreat enables us to recenter, regain presence, and reclaim our true selves.
The Gift of Retreat
Or HaLev teacher Mira Neshama explains why going on retreat is so vital to ourselves, our practice, and those closest to us.
The Retreat Experience
Why go on retreat?
Retreat is a chance to step out of the business of daily life, with the constant technological distractions and stimuli, and enter into an inner space which grows increasingly quiet and still. Far from being selfish, going on retreat is a gift you give yourself, those close to you, and the entire world.
Retreat enables you to check in with yourself, and connect to the spacious loving awareness that is always available. The structure of retreat provides a depth of connection and awareness that is not possible in other contexts.
The mind is always producing thoughts and feelings. The goal of meditation is not to stop thinking, but rather to increase awareness, and to lessen the tendency to be pulled to and fro by thoughts and feelings like waves in the sea. Through practice we find a stability, vastness and stillness. You are not just the wave - you are the whole ocean.
The gratitude, compassion, belonging, vibrancy, joy and presence found on retreat is then taken back out into the world with you.
In short, retreats wake us up.
What is the power of a silent meditation retreat?
Excerpt from a moderated panel about the film Seven Days in Silence by Jonathan Perlman.
The film captures Perlman's personal journey on a 7-day Or HaLev Jewish silent meditation retreat.
What to expect?
Or HaLev offers a wide variety of retreats, ranging from half-day to week-long, online and in-person. Every retreat includes:
Sitting and walking meditations with guided instructions
Mindful eating practice
Chanting
Rich Jewish teachings.
Many of OHL’s retreats are timed with a particular holiday; enabling you to step more fully into the energy and wisdom of the Jewish calendar and all it has to offer. Our retreats are not only for seasoned meditators - they are for everyone. Our teachers are there to guide, lend support, and answer any questions that arise.
Testimonials from the documentary "My Seven Days in Silence" by Jonathan Perlman.
What is it like?
Hear from participants of Or HaLev's retreats, as they share their transformative experiences.
Upcoming Retreats
Sample Daily Schedule
6:00am Wake up bell
6:30 Sit
7:00 Chanting
8:00 Time for personal prayer practice
8:30 BREAKFAST Dining Room
9:30 Sit
10:15 Walk
10:30 Sit
11:15 Walk
11:45 Sit + Q&A
12:30pm LUNCH Dining Room
1:15 Work practice (beginner’s group meetings and instructions)
2:00 Sit
2:45 Walk
3:00 Sit
3:45 Walk or Yoga
4:45 Sit
6:00 DINNER Dining room
7:30 Teaching/Talk
8:30 Walk
8:45 Sit
9:15 Return to rooms or optional practice